What If You
by Janeway1390
Summary: In a world where Timothy didn't die, he meets Callie first. Arizona flies to Seattle to meet him and immediately butts heads with the fiery brunette. Companion to Colors and Promises.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is an exploration of the AU introduced in Colors and Promises. It was the one that interested me the most and seemed to interest some of you guys too. I hope you like it!

* * *

Barbara Robbins called on a Tuesday night to tell her Timothy had flown across the country to have surgery. By Wednesday morning Arizona was on the first flight to Seattle to talk – or possibly smack—some sense into her brother. He may be a Marine, but no one could match the eldest Robbins sibling when she was pissed. And she was _pissed_.

"I'm looking for my brother, Timothy Robbins," Arizona told the receptionist when she reached Seattle Grace Mercy West.

"Ah, you must be Arizona. Your brother said to expect you."

"He did, did he?" Arizona arched an eyebrow.

"He also said that we shouldn't let you see him because you are 'detrimental to his recovery,'" the nurse said with air quotes.

She was going to _kill_ him. It took all of Arizona's will not to storm passed the nurse and find the room on her own. Instead she mustered her best dimpled smile and leaned conspiratorially toward the nurse.

"I don't look detrimental, do I . . . Coleen?" she asked checking out the nurse's nametag.

Coleen studied her for a moment obviously torn between Tim's wishes and her charm. She wasn't worried though, no one was immune to the Arizona charm act.

"No you don't," Coleen smiled. "But we like your brother around here so don't go too hard on him."

Arizona didn't promise anything, but she followed Coleen to her brother's room and thanked the nurse. She paused at the door and took in her brother's appearance. It was the first time she'd seen him since the accident three months ago. The scratches and cuts on his face had healed as had the dark bruises to his arms and neck. She knew she should go easy on him, knew that his wounds went deeper than the bruises and scars. Arizona knew that, but her fury was too great to stop now.

"Timothy Robbins!"

He awoke with a start, but instantly alert and ready to attack like his training had taught him. She noticed the brief relief in his eyes before dread replaced it.

"You charmed a nurse, didn't you?"

"You have five minutes to explain yourself before I drag your ass back home."

"How did you get here so soon? Mom must have called you right after I left. I thought she'd at least give me a day's head start."

"Of course she called me! I'm a doctor Tim! I work at one of the top ranked hospitals, which happens to be in the city where you live, and you fly all the way across the country to seek medical advice? Really?"

"Hey! Seattle Grace is a high ranking hospital too. Will you calm down and let me explain?" Arizona glared at him for a minute, then sighed and sat down in the chair next to Tim's bed. "Do you remember Billy Mendez? Dad used to serve with his uncle and our units crossed paths a few times. He was injured pretty badly a few years ago and lost feeling in his legs. He came here for treatment and Dr. Torres, my doctor, made him walk again. Now he's running around with his kids like nothing ever happened."

"Tim . . ."

"Our cases are different, I know, but I've done my research. Dr. Torres comes highly recommended and I figured it was worth a shot. Plus, Dr. Gregg at your hospital is a douche bag who would just hack of my leg. That's kind of the opposite of what I'm going for, sis."

Arizona smiled despite herself as the fight drained out of her. "That doesn't mean you can just up and leave without explanation. You shouldn't go through this alone. You're lucky mom told me and not Dad."

Tim grimaced. "How long do you think we have before he finds out?"

"Mom will keep him on the ropes for awhile. But I'll call him myself if you pull another stunt like this," she said playfully punching him in his good arm.

"It's good to see you Arizona."

"You too, Tim."

/ / /

"You want to go to Joe's tonight? I'm off at eight."

"Sorry Mark. I've got to figure out a treatment plan for the Marine that came in today. I'll probably be stuck in research all night."

"Ugh, you're no fun."

Callie ignored him. She'd be a lot more fun when she figured out how to help Tim. He was a nice kid who almost died serving his country and Callie was determined to fix his leg and arm. They'd both nearly been shattered after debris from an explosion crushed his right side. He told her he'd been stuck under a cement wall for three hours before he was pulled out.

"Did you see that hot blond talking to your scrub nurse this afternoon?"

"No, unlike you I was actually working."

"I'm a multi-tasker Torres."

Callie smiled and rolled her eyes. "While I appreciate your company, I can't get anything done with you around. Go bug Lexie."

Four hours later Callie had two solid options to bring to Tim. One was the safer route that would fix the damage to his arm and leg while increasing mobility, but would still leave him without full use of the limbs. The other option was an experimental procedure that had only been performed successfully twice and involved titanium and intensive muscle treatment that could potentially damage the limbs beyond repair, but with physical therapy would give him complete use of his arm and leg.

She heard laughter coming from Tim's room and figured he was flirting with the nurses again. The entire staff loved him and had been fighting over who would get to take care of him. Callie had to admit that he was handsome, charming and had a dimpled smile that could make anyone melt. He knew it too, but it didn't make him cocky the way it did Mark, if anything it made him more likeable.

"Tim you have got to stop flirting with the nurses or else—"

It wasn't a nurse he was talking to. It was a gorgeous blond with a smile even brighter than Tim's. Callie was frozen in place as the woman's bright blue eyes locked with hers.

"Dr. Torres, this is my sister Arizona."

Arizona rose to shake Callie's hand. "Dr. Arizona Robbins."

"Ah, you're a doctor. Tim didn't tell me that. What's your specialty?"

"Pediatric surgery at Mass Gen," Arizona said proudly.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Dr. Robbins." The brief connection the two had was gone as the tension seeped into the room. Arizona had fixed her with an appraising glare that she tried to ignore.

"Tim, I've got two treatment options for you," she said turning to the younger Robbins. Callie could feel Arizona's eyes on her, which made her more nervous than she cared to admit. She'd dealt with overprotective and worried families before, she'd even treated surgeons whose careers hinged on her fixing their hands, but none of them could crack her veneer the way Arizona's stare was right now.

She laid out the two options for Tim, answering all of his sister's questions as calmly as she could. By the end of it she was ready to smack Arizona for trying to discredit her on everything she said.

"Please ignore my sister Dr. Torres. She's a pushy know-it-all who likes to bud into my business. And she's in rare form tonight."

Callie tried to hide a small and stole a glance at an indignant looking Arizona.

"I am not a pushy know-it-all."

"Have you met you?" he teased playfully. "Doc, I'm going to go for option two. I want full use of my arm and leg and this seems like the best shot I have at that."

"Uh uh," Arizona said shaking her head. "You do not get to make this big of a decision without even thinking about it. She didn't even tell you all the possible risks and side effects. Not to mention the insane amount of physical therapy you'd have to do."

Tim cleared his throat and fixed his sister with a death glare. "Dr. Torres, will you please excuse us. I need to lecture my sister on her manners."

Callie nodded and left silently, thankful not to be stuck in the middle of the sibling dispute. Arizona and Tim may look alike, but it was clear that their personalities were wildly different. She didn't want to be around when they blew up at each other.

"What is up with you?"

"Me? You're the one being an ass!"

"I'm not an ass! You're an ass!"

"Tim you want to have experimental surgery without even thinking about the consequences!"

"I've thought about the consequences!" Tim shouted. Arizona was taken aback by the real anger in his voice and unconsciously took a step away from the bed.

"I've thought about the consequences Arizona," he said softly. "I thought about them before I joined the military. Hell, I thought about them every time Dad told that story about Grandpa. I knew this could happen, but I wasn't prepared for the reality of it. My arm barely works. I'm lucky to even lift it and don't even get me started about my leg. I've been stuck in a wheelchair for months when I may not have to be. If I end up losing my limbs then I'm no worse off than I am now. I have to try!"

It was then that Arizona decided she had to start thinking like a sister and not a doctor. It was obvious that Tim had made up his mind and she needed to support him. She was just scared. She had sat with her parents for hours waiting for an update on Tim's condition after the accident. Every moment of recovery she had been there helping him. They had almost lost him once and she knew their family could not handle it if they had to go through it all again.

"I know," she said with a shaky breath. "If this is really what you want then I'll support you, but you have to promise me that you'll at least have Dr. Torres run down the list of risks and possible complications with you."

"I promise."

/ / /

When Arizona left the hospital that night she intended to head to the hotel and pass out, but she found herself sitting in the hospital gallery watching a heart transplant on a ten year old kid. Surgery calmed her and since she couldn't operate now, she had to settle on watching. There had been a few interns and other surgeons in the gallery with her, but they trickled out as the hours stretched on.

"I'm surprised you're still here."

Arizona was startled by the voice. She'd been alone for hours. "I guess I lost track of time," she replied, standing to be on equal footing with the orthopedic surgeon. "I want to apologize for my behavior earlier. It was rude and unprofessional."

Callie brushed her apology away with a wave of her hand. "You're just looking out for your brother. I get it. But in the future I'd appreciate it if you would let me get through a sentence without interrupting me a hundred times. I will kick you out of the room."

"Understood. It won't happen again," Arizona said with a nod. "It's getting late; I should probably go check-in to my hotel. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Dr. Robbins."

Arizona gave Callie a sincere dimpled smile. "Goodnight Dr. Torres."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you are liking the story. For the record, I have absolutely no medical knowledge, so everything going on with Tim is just a made up plot device and not intended to be factual.

* * *

Arizona walked into Tim's room the next morning with a latte and a stack of papers, not surprised to find two nurses with him: Coleen and a redhead she hadn't seen before.

"Good morning, sis! I was just telling these ladies about our trip to Morocco the year you graduated med school."

"I especially liked the part where you flirted with the hotel receptionist to score a free room upgrade," Coleen said winking at her. "Seems to work on all the girls."

Arizona blushed slightly, but smiled. "What can I say? The dimples work every time."

The nurses said their goodbyes, Coleen's hand lingering on Arizona's arm for a moment as she brushed past. The blonde shook her head at her brother and set the papers on his lap.

"What's this? And where's my latte?"

"You don't get one. I did a little research last night on Dr. Torres' procedure and want you to read it before you agree to the surgery." She did a lot of research on more than just the procedure. She looked into Callie's credentials, read up on her published articles, and called some colleagues to check on her reputation. No one had anything bad to say about her, they gave her glowing reviews and said she was one of the best in her field. Which annoyed Arizona to no end. She didn't know why, but something about the orthopedic surgeon got under her skin. Even the night before after their friendly "goodnight," Arizona found herself irritated with Callie . . . and maybe even a little attracted, but that was not the point. She was here to make sure Tim didn't do anything stupid then was going to get the hell out of Seattle and back to her sick tiny humans in Boston.

Tim rolled his eyes, but thumbed through the paperwork. "Dr. Torres came by this morning. She's scheduled some scans and said she'll come discuss them with me when they get the films back.

"Perfect," Arizona said sitting down next to Tim's bed. "That means we have at least five hours to sit here and wait."

"Hey, no one told you you have to be here. You are more than welcome to go home." Arizona glared at him. "At least go outside and explore Seattle. This is the first vacation you've had in like four years."

He was right. Aside from the two week leave she took when Tim was injured, Arizona hadn't had more than a day off in a really long time. She liked it that way though. If she wasn't busy she went stir crazy, much like she was starting to now. "Is that your less than subtle way of telling me to get lost?"

"Yup. If you want me to read this stuff then you have to go because I can't do it with you staring at me with your worried big sister sad eyes."

"Fine, but I want to be here when Dr. Torres talks to you."

"Deal, now scram, you're killing my game." Arizona followed Tim's gaze across the hall to the nurse's station where many of the women in scrubs were attempting to nonchalantly stare at him. Except for one. Coleen was not so subtly staring at her.

"I think Coleen likes you."

"Of course she does. I'm hot."

Tim just smiled at gave the nurses a little wave. "I'm leaving before this turns into The Hunger Games for your affections."

/ / /

Arizona didn't stray too far from Tim's room. She didn't trust him to call her when his scans came back so she decided to head down to the hospital cafeteria to grab lunch and answer a few emails. She made it halfway through her salad when someone approached her.

"You're Dr. Robbins, right?"

"That's me," she said cheerily smiling at the blonde woman standing next to her table.

"I'm Teddy Altman. A paper you wrote a few months ago helped me save a kid last week."

"Really? Glad to hear it. Why don't you sit, Dr. Altman." To be honest, Arizona was glad to have someone to talk to. She was tired of sitting by herself while people stared at her. "Is it always like this here?"

"The staring? Yeah it is," Teddy chuckled. "This hospital is full of horrible gossips. The fact that you're a successful surgeon with a hot brother is like cannon fodder to these people. You'll get used to it." Arizona doubted she would, but nodded anyway.

"How's your brother?" Teddy asked taking a bite of her apple.

"Enjoying all the attention," she sighed. "He wants Dr. Torres to perform an experimental surgery."

"It sounds like you don't approve?"

"I'm trying to see his side of it, but the worried sister with medical knowledge is still a little leery."

Teddy nodded. "I know. I was an Army doctor and had the same problem when giving friends medical advice. If it's any consolation, Dr. Torres is an amazing surgeon."

Arizona liked Teddy. She was the first person in this hospital that understood her side of things and she seemed like a sweet person. She was the kind of woman she could see herself being friends with.

"So you don't think I'm crazy?"

"Not at all, but I also know that once a soldier makes up their mind there's no changing it." Arizona knew that was true. Stubbornness ran in the Robbins family.

"Ladies, I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Ugh, Mark. Leave the poor girl alone," Teddy said.

"Mark Sloan, pleasure to meet you," Mark ignored her extending his hand to Arizona. She shook it firmly, amused by his obvious flirting, and snuck a glance at Teddy who was studying the scene in front of her. "You know the nurses are hot and bothered over your brother, but I'm all hot and bothered over you."

Teddy choked on her coffee and Arizona erupted into a fit of giggles. "Oh Mark, did you really think that line would work on me?"

"You'd be surprised by how many women it works on," Teddy said trying to control her laughter.

Mark looked wounded for a moment then joined in their laughter, setting his tray down and sitting across from the two women. They settled into and easy banter and Arizona found herself enjoying Seattle for the first time.

/ / /

Callie entered the cafeteria intending to join Mark for lunch, but when her eyes roamed the cafeteria she found that he was already accompanied by Teddy and Arizona. She contemplated joining them, but didn't want to intrude. Besides, Arizona would probably just clam up and glare at her. Despite the apparent cease fire last night she knew that Arizona saw her as the bad guy who wanted to test a surgery out on her brother. Not that Callie blamed her, but in that moment she would have given anything to have Arizona smile at her the way she was smiling at Mark.

She was more carefree and relaxed than Callie thought was possible after her demeanor the day before. Callie already thought she was beautiful, but her gorgeous smile and adorable giggle made her melt. She watched as Arizona threw her head back and laughed while placing a hand on Mark's arm. The brunette felt jealousy bubbling in her chest, though she told herself she had no right to be.

"Dr. Torres, I have those scans for Timothy Robbins," Lexie said causing her to jump. The resident gave her an apologetic look and handed her the films. "They're not good."

"Damn," she said taking her eyes off of the blonde and turning to leave. Lexie was right. The scans showed that the damage was more extensive than she thought. The muscles and tendons in Tim's arm were healing too tightly around the bone, which would make it that much harder to fix. His leg was healing better, but a lot of his muscle had decayed and she wasn't if sure if his leg could support the new titanium bones.

She hated that she didn't have better news for Tim. These were the kinds of cases she prayed would go smoothly, but ended up testing her in more ways than one.

"Dr. Torres! Have you seen the new Shelby's?" he asked holding up the car magazine when she walked in. "Man, I'd do anything to have one of these."

"They're great cars. I had a blue '67 Mustang Fastback in college. That car was my baby."

"What happened to it?"

"I had to get the engine rebuilt. I moved to Seattle and didn't want it to get ruined out here so I keep it back home in Miami."

"Damn, I'd love to drive a car like that. I worked three different jobs in high school so I could buy this rusted out black '77 Firebird. My dad and I worked on that car for hours until it was perfect."

Callie smiled. "Do you still have it?"

Tim shook his head. "I sold it before I was deployed. Arizona was drowning in medical school loans and I wanted to help her. It's not like I could drive it halfway around the world anyway."

"You're a good guy, Tim," she said placing a hand on his arm. Callie hadn't known Tim long, but it sounded like something he would do. She just wished she had better news for him. "I've got your scans back if you'd like to discuss them."

"Looks like I have perfect timing," Arizona said striding in the room. "Don't worry, Dr. Torres, I remember what I promised. No interruptions."

Arizona was in a great mood from her lunch with Teddy and Mark. Once Mark stopped hitting on her they had a great lunch. He had mentioned that he was waiting for Callie, but she never showed. Arizona had been strangely disappointed. Not that Callie seemed to miss them. She looked like she had been having an interesting conversation with her brother based on the way her hand rested on Tim's arm. The blonde was frustrated that the small gesture made her jealous.

Callie moved to clip the scans to the light board and turned to them. "I'm afraid your scans don't look too great, Tim." She explained the situation and, true to her word, Arizona remained silent, her face set in a grim expression. Callie didn't need to explain the severity of the injuries to her, the look on her face said it all.

"You can still do it though, right?" Tim asked.

Callie hesitated, eyes flicking to Arizona, who was staring back at her, almost willing her to say no. "I believe so. There are no guarantees even in a best case scenario, but I still think we have a shot at getting you full use of your limbs. Our biggest concern with your arm is keeping the muscle intact as much as possible. We have more extensive work to do on your leg and it's going to be painful, but if you decide to go ahead with the surgery we can schedule you for the day after tomorrow."

"Let's do it," was all Tim said as he took one last look at the x-rays. "I have faith in you Dr. Torres."

"Alright, then I'll schedule your surgery and come by tomorrow to go over pre-op with you."

/ / /

"Don't even start, Arizona. We've been over this too many times already."

Arizona's gaze followed Callie out of the room as her anger rose. "You're not the one I'm mad at," she said rising from her seat to follow the brunette out of the room.

"Arizona! Don't!"

She was gone before Tim could protest. She hurried down the hall just in time to see Callie disappear through a door. Arizona followed her through it and closed the door forcefully behind her.

Callie jumped and whirled around to face her. They were in a doctor's lounge and Arizona was thankful for the privacy.

"What the hell was that?"

"Excuse me?"

"That procedure is far too risky. I can't believe you agreed to do it!"

"You are out of line," Callie said taking a step toward her. "I understand that you're worried, but you need to calm down, respect your brother's wishes and let me do my job!"

"Your job? Your job is to fix people, not hack their limbs off!" Arizona's voice rose.

"I'm not going to hack his limbs off! I'm going to save them!"

Callie suddenly realized that they were standing mere inches apart. They were so close that she could lean in and kiss Arizona if she wanted to. She was surprised to find that she _really_ wanted to. Arizona must have realized how close they were too because her eyes flicked down to Callie's lips before returning to meet her gaze.

It was Arizona who stepped back first. She opened her mouth to speak then thought better of it. The blonde abruptly turned and disappeared through the door, leaving a very confused Callie in her wake.


	3. Chapter 3

After her fight with Callie, Arizona hopped in a cab to grab her things from the hotel and headed straight for the airport. She didn't even stop to say goodbye to Tim. If no one was going to listen to her then there was no reason for her to stay. Her brother always did this, charging head first into everything without thinking about the consequences and leaving her to pick up the pieces. Even when they were kids she always had to look after him. She was done. Done with all of it.

And Callie! She was so angry at the orthopedic surgeon for agreeing to go ahead with the operation. Arizona let out a heavy sigh as she stood in line at the ticket counter. There had been a moment between them that she couldn't explain. They had gotten so close in the heat of their argument that Arizona had been close enough to kiss her. Hell, she had even leaned in to do it before her senses kicked in. The blonde couldn't deny the attraction anymore. If she had stayed in Seattle any longer she was sure the fire would erupt between them sooner or later.

She looked up at the departures board. There were a handful of flights leaving to Boston this evening and she could hop on any one of them and get back to her life. It would be so easy, but she knew she wouldn't do it. With another sigh Arizona grabbed her bag and headed back out the airport doors.

/ / /

"Want to have lunch today?" Mark asked as they scrubbed out of their surgery. Callie had been paged in the middle of the night to help with the influx of burn victims from a restaurant fire and was exhausted. All she wanted to do was crash in the nearest on-call room.

"Thanks, but I'm just going to sleep for awhile before my next shift starts."

He just nodded and held the door open before following her through it. Their patient had been the last of the critically injured brought in and the hospital was starting to calm down from its frantic morning.

"Why don't you eat lunch with Teddy and your new friend," Callie said unable to stop herself from teasing him. She also wanted some intel on Arizona. Callie had been pissed after the blonde blew up at her, but she was trying to let it go. Tim's surgery was tomorrow and she wanted to focus all of her efforts on that.

"I knew you were going to tease me about that," Mark said running a hand through his hair. Teddy had told her all about Mark's failed attempts to woo Dr. Robbins. She wished she could have seen him bomb in such spectacular fashion. "But you know, after I got over my bruised ego, I had a great time. Arizona's really great once you get over the perkiness."

"Perky?" Callie scoffed. "Are you sure we're talking about the same person?"

"Yeah, she said she was kind of a hard ass to you," he said with a shrug. She gave him a look, but let it go. Hard ass didn't go far enough to describe Arizona's attitude towards her. "I'm going to go update the family."

Callie watched him go and yawned. The on-call room across the hall beckoned for her, but she knew she should go check on Tim before they started pre-op. The brunette prayed Arizona wouldn't be there. She didn't have enough energy for another confrontation.

Tim was alone when she walked into the room. "What's that?" she asked sneaking a look over his shoulder at the photo book he was looking through.

"It's a bit of a manly scrapbook, I guess," he said handing it over to Callie. "I've been doing it since I was a kid. We traveled a lot so I started putting pictures together so I could remember all the places I called home. I was adding some photos from Iraq."

Callie was awed by the places Tim had visited. Germany, Japan, Italy, and practically every state in the country. There were pictures of houses and scenery, but mostly the pictures were of Tim and his family. Her eye caught one photo in particular. It was of Tim and a little girl she assumed was Arizona. They were sitting on a rock at the edge of a lake, arms around each other, wearing matching dimpled grins. She smiled at the image and handed him back the book.

"You've been to a lot of places. It's a good idea to keep it all together like that."

Tim just nodded and gently set the book down on the table beside him. It was then that she noticed the tension in his body. He held his shoulders tighter with a look in his eyes that said he was ready for a fight. It was such a stark contrast to the jovial relaxed man she knew.

"Is everything okay?"

"Everything's great," he said clenching his jaw.

Callie knew better than to push him, so she backed off and grabbed his chart to check his stats. "I just wanted to check to see how you were doing before tomorrow's surgery. Your stats look good. I was going to have a resident come in soon to go over pre-op with you, but we can wait until your sister is here."

"You can have them do it now. Arizona probably won't be back for awhile."

"She left?"

"I haven't seen her since last night," Tim said. Callie understood why he was tense now and felt guilty.

"I'm sorry, Tim. That's partly my fault. We got into a bit of an argument last night and she left pretty angry."

Tim sighed heavily. "It's not your fault, Dr. Torres. This is just something my sister does when things get too tough." She looked at him confused before he continued. "She bails."

Callie looked at him and bit back the irritation the statement left her with. How could Arizona leave her brother at a time like this, especially when she had fought so hard for his well being? She watched the fight drain out of Tim as his shoulders slumped forward.

"So she just left without saying anything?" She tried to keep her voice neutral, but failed.

"I know what you're thinking, but don't be so hard on her. The way she's been treating you . . . she's not normally like this."

"I'm sorry," she said again. "This is none of my business. I didn't mean to overstep."

Tim looked at her for a minute then smiled softly. "You didn't overstep. Can I ask you something though?"

Callie nodded. "Of course."

"When you see my sister again can you do me a favor and go easy on her? She's acting this way because she feels guilty and I-I can't bear for her to feel any worse."

For the first time since she met the Robbins siblings, Callie finally understood Arizona's anger and protectiveness of her brother. It was guilt.

"She couldn't help you," she said softly as everything clicked into place.

Tim nodded and looked down. It was clear how close the two were, both feeling bad for causing the other pain. "It was always just the two of us. We moved so many times that any friends we had we left before too long. Growing up, she was always looking out for me. When I'd cry because we had to move again, she'd sit with me and help put pictures in my book. When I was eight and starting a new school she punched a kid who was bullying me. In high school, she made it clear that no one could mess with her brother. The past few years have been hard for her because she knew there was nothing she could do to protect me over there. And then I got hurt and there was nothing she could do to help me."

"So her only way to protect you was to make sure you didn't do something stupid like let some random surgeon perform experimental surgery on her brother," Callie finished with a small smile.

"A _badass_ surgeon. I make my own choices Dr. Torres and I'm not trying to make excuses for the way my sister has treated you, but I wanted you to know that she's just trying to protect me in the last way she can right now."

Callie took in his words. Thinking back to every conversation and argument she had with Arizona there had always been some fire in her eyes that Callie couldn't place, but now came to recognize as desperation. It made Callie feel like an ass for the anger she felt toward the blonde. It reminded her of the way her father fought for his family and protected them fiercely. She promised Tim to take it easy on his sister and talked to him a little about the surgery before leaving to catch a few hours of sleep. She had a feeling her mind would be too busy thinking about Arizona to actually sleep.

/ / /

"What are you doing out here? It's freezing."

Teddy sat next to Arizona and pulled her coat tighter around herself. It _was_ freezing, but after an hour of sitting outside she was mostly numb to the cold. After leaving the airport Arizona tried to come up with an apology speech to her brother, but all of the words sounded hollow in her mind, so she plopped herself on the bench until she could come up with something more genuine.

She smiled at Teddy and playfully bumped her with her shoulder. "I think the better question is: what are _you_ doing out here?"

"Hiding from my resident," Teddy said rolling her eyes. "Cristina Yang is trolling for surgeries and I can't deal with her begging right now. I'm trying to teach her a lesson." Arizona chuckled. Cristina Yang sounded a lot like her as a resident. "Your turn."

"I'm hiding too."

"From your brother or Callie Torres?"

Arizona flinched. "You heard about that?"

"The nurses heard you. Spread like wildfire from there. Plus news about Torres is in high demand right now. Sorry you got dragged into it."

"What do you mean?"

"Callie had a . . . rough break up with a colleague who used to work here awhile ago," Teddy said vaguely. She liked Torres and didn't want to air all of her dirty laundry.

"And my little outburst threw her back into the rumor mill?"

Teddy nodded and stood. "Look, I don't want to get involved in your business, but Callie's been through a lot and she's seemed to come out of it for the better. The last thing she needs right now is to be dragged into another scandal."

Arizona nodded and watched her go. Making Callie Torres' job harder was another thing to add to the list of sins she had to atone for. She let out a breath, watching as it fogged and dissipated in front of her. When had her life gotten so complicated? Work, sleep, and dinner with her parents every other week was a schedule she could deal with. The few days she'd been in Seattle had left her tired and weary, making her wish Nick was here to help carry the burden. The last time she saw him was before Tim shipped out. They had thrown a party for her brother, gotten plastered on tequila and Jell-O shots, and stayed up late into the night talking about the two years they spent together as kids in San Diego. Last she heard he was in Kenya taking pictures of old villages for National Geographic. She wondered if he knew Tim got hurt.

It was time face her brother. With a deep breath, Arizona stood from the bench, stretched her frozen limbs, and headed through the glass doors of Seattle Grace. The halls were quiet as the calm of night set in. When she reached her brother's room she waited by the door and gathered her courage. Apologizing wasn't her strong suit.

"You buy a ticket this time?" he asked without looking up from his magazine.

"No, but I actually made it inside the airport."

He looked up at her. "I hope nothing ever scares you so much that you finally get on the plane." Tim said it in a playful tone, but she sees the seriousness in his eyes. They've had this conversation many times before. She leaves when things get hard. It's not something she's proud of, but she's working on it. Or, at least, she's planning on working on it.

"Tim I-"

"We've been through this Arizona. You're sorry. I'm sorry. You don't have to protect me; I'm a big boy now. Blah, blah, blah. I don't feel like having the conversation again." He was irritated, but he said it teasingly so she knew she wasn't in any real trouble.

"As long as you're my little brother I'm always going to protect you."

He rolled his eyes and motioned for her to come inside. "Do me a favor then. Steer clear of Dr. Torres until after the surgery. I don't want her to hack off my leg for the hell of it because you pissed her off again."


End file.
